1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for the floral industry; more particularly, this invention relates to apparatus to aid in arranging flowers; most particularly this invention relates to apparatus for steadying floral arraignments as they are made.
2. State of the Art
Currently, flowers are arranged at the florist by inserting cut flowers into floral foam. The floral foam is placed into a vase or similar container, and the flower stems are placed in foam. Other articles, such as babies"" breath, fern and the like may also be placed in the foam. The problem with the foam is that the foam must be wetted and then placed in a vase or the like before the flowers or the like are placed in the arrangement. Arrangements made with floral foam can be asymmetric because the arranger may not balance the flowers in the arrangement. Moreover, the foam may fail to support some of the flowers in the arrangement, causing it to sag with time.
In the flower-by-wire industry, the arrangements are selected by the customer at a remote location from a book, paid for at the remote location, and then the arrangement is made based on the local florists best interpretation of the picture in the book. Any aid or guide to allow the consistent arrangement of flowers would be of great benefit to the industry and prevent misunderstandings about the nature of the flowers and arrangements ordered.
It would be advantageous to have a flower arranging device or aide that would allow the arranger to easily place the flowers in an arrangement symmetrically and permanently. It would be especially advantageous for the flower-by-wire industry, and allow consistent and reproducible flower arrangements to be made by all florists connected by the wire service.
This invention provides a method and apparatus for arranging flowers without a vase. A series of nested members, each having a plurality of flower stem receiving channels, preferably between two and eight flower channels, are placed in a nested configuration. Flower stems are placed in each of the receiving channels and the next larger member is placed over the stems. Larger members, for holding more flowers, can be placed over the next larger size. Preferably, one to four layers of members are used to create the flower arrangement.
In one aspect of this invention is an apparatus for arranging flowers comprising:
a center member having a plurality of flower channels on the outer side surface; and
at least one outer member having a plurality of flower channels on the out side surface, the center member nested inside the outer member.
A second aspect of this invention is a method for arranging flowers comprising:
placing at least one stem of a flower in at least one flower channel of a center member;
surrounding the central member with a surrounding member having a second plurality of flower channels;
placing at least one stem of a flower in one of the second plurality of flower channels; and
placing the arranged flowers in a display device.
A third aspect of this invention is an apparatus for arranging flowers comprising:
a central member defining a central aperture and having a plurality of flower channels on the outer side surface; and
at least one outer member having a first side member and second side member, the first and second side members having a means to join each other, and the out member having a plurality of flower channels on the out side surface, the center member nested inside the outer member.